Special ReportsIn-depth feature stories and other projects from the Staten Island Advance

Unrelated by blood, bound by love

'Uncle,' 9/11 victim who was big fan of Mickey Mantle, earned treasured place in Life's Hall of Fame

Friday,
September 12, 2003

By FANNIE RICCOBONOADVANCE STAFF WRITER

He woke up that morning in a cold sweat. "Lin," he said, turning to his wife, "I just had the most terrible dream."

My uncle, Vincent M. Litto, a senior vice president in the Over-the-Counter Trading Department of Cantor Fitzgerald, never explained what that dream was, but it couldn't have compared to the nightmare he was about to face: The morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

He went through his usual routine at home that day, but he drove to work at the World Trade Center alone, unlike what I remember from my high school years when he used to take me to school on the way. Almost every morning during those four years, my uncle, who lived across the street from my house in Eltingville, dropped me off at school, along with his two daughters and usually at least one of our friends.

Often one of us would make him late for work, and many times it was me. Some mornings I would still be sleeping when the sound of his car horn beeping outside my window woke me. But he'd never leave without me; he would wait until I ran out of the house.

Never, not once, did he make me feel bad about that or anything else. To my uncle, making those close to him happy was the single most important aspect of his life, much more important than being a few minutes late to work. He didn't complain or yell. Rather, he'd laugh or smile, or shake his head, probably because he loved me like one of his own daughters.

Our families weren't related by blood, but by love. We became neighbors before we became friends. And our friendship grew into a bond that became just as strong as any family ties.

It wasn't until my uncle's death on Sept. 11 that I realized just how much he was loved beyond our family.

1,000 AT MEMORIAL MASS

More than 1,000 people attended his memorial mass, held one month to the day after the attack. We stood and cried and mourned this man who somehow affected all of our lives. And when my aunt, Linda Litto, told my father, Rocky Riccobono, that she wanted to build a shrine in memory of her husband, my father told her: "Look around, Linda, you have already built a shrine."

My uncle would never have wanted this attention. He was more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy than center stage. Sincere, loving and compassionate, he was always going out of his way to help others, never wanting anything in return. In one word, he could be described as humble. A smile on his wife's face or a hug from one of his daughters was nearly all that he desired. His final goal in life was to make his family happy. He succeeded.

Both my uncle and my father were huge New York Yankee fans. And since both of them grew up in the 1950s, more than Yankee fans, they were Mickey Mantle fans. Like many men of their generation, Mantle was their idol. They talked about Mantle, they read about Mantle, they looked up stats about Mantle, they watched films about Mantle. Mickey Mantle was a popular dinner table topic.

'THE MICK' WALKED IN

About eight years ago, my father received a phone call from my uncle: "You'll never believe this, Rocky. I was eating dinner at Mickey Mantle's restaurant and Mickey Mantle walked in."

"What did you do? Did you talk to him? Did you get an autograph? What did you do," my father asked.

"No. I felt funny. I didn't want to bother him," said my uncle.

"Are you kidding?" asked my father. "You got a chance to meet Mickey Mantle, our childhood hero, and you didn't even go over to him?"

"No, I didn't."

And knowing exactly the kind of man that my uncle was, my father believed him.

About a month later, when my father celebrated his birthday, he received a gift from his buddy, his brother Vinny.